UNITY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — For the last six months, the Crabtree and Lloydsville Volunteer Fire Stations have had at least two paid firefighters each during the daytime hours Monday through Friday.
“Our goals were to cut down on response time, and to gain manpower,” said Crabtree Fire Chief Bill Watkins.
So far, Watkins said it’s done exactly that.
“Both crews are en route within one minute, and we can provide one crew out of the two on scene in an average of five minutes or less,” Watkins told Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek.
In some cases, that time can be lifesaving.
“For instance, on a medical assist, if someone is not breathing, within six minutes there’s damage,” Watkins noted.
The firefighters, which sometimes can be as many as four at each station, get $12 an hour through a stipend at the end of the month.
Right now, that is paid for by the fire levy the township charges on real estate tax.
But, they’re working on a federal grant that, if awarded, would pay for the program for four years.
Until then, they’re going to continue to work and expand the program within their budget.
“This year we want to start doing some weekends because there is the need for weekend help especially in the summertime,” Watkins said. “We also want to look into doing some evenings, and we want to look into putting more staffing on during major weather events, whether that’s in the winter time with the snow or the cold, or the summertime with the storms and the flooding.”
Despite the stipend program, Watkins said they still have to rely heavily on volunteers and encourage people to stop by and help out.
“The more manpower we can come up with, it keeps us safer when we do our jobs out on the scene,” Watkins said.
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